The here and now... and what and why

Complacency is a trap. At least that’s what I was thinking when I up and left the comfort of a Yankee prep school gig, where I taught music, amongst other things, for 28 years. There was also that life long career as a composer, musician and artist.

First, it was a year in St. Thomas, USVI, working as a reporter and shooting photography and then, a year in San Agustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico.Time passed.More time passed and a year back in the Athens of America followed by a hasty return to Oaxaca where it is all happening.A couple of years in San Sebastian Etla and now, just down the road in San Pablo Etla. Life is good.

Click on an image to see it larger.For additional photography please visit my flickr page.You can find my music on Jango(World & latin - Worldbeat) and at iTunes and most online stores.¡Soy consciente de todas las tradiciones del Internet!If you are coming to Oaxaca, please contact me for tours or advice.

The hereafter re me

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Pochahontas?..... Sounds familiar

Mexico has Malinche, who is a wonderfully complex and tragic figure. Malinchimo is a part of the Mexican psyche. Read this description!

These words by Ruth Hopkins ring so true and made me immediately think of Malinche. At least Mexicans remember and contemplate what she means. Not so in El Norte. We don't even acknowledge our own history before Columbus, those thousands of years, which is ignorant, sad and serves as an indictment on our culture.

Let’s be clear: Donald Trump isn’t calling Senator Warren
“Pocahontas” to honor her. He is using it in a derogatory manner, to
belittle and insult her. This is what he thinks of Native people and
women in general. Such statements are not only arrogant, they’re
misogynistic and racially charged.

Contrary to Hollywood lore and textbook mythology, Pocahontas wasn’t a
buxom NDN Princess built for sex who couldn’t wait to help the white
man defeat her brutish Tribesman. Pocahontas was a little girl who first
met John Smith around age 11. She was kidnapped, held hostage,
imprisoned, and raped by European invaders who only released her when
she agreed to marry one of her English captors. She was then promptly
carted off to Europe as an example of what successful colonization could
look like. She fell ill soon after and died far from her traditional
homelands at the age of 21. Pocahontas is not a stripper name or a
Halloween costume. She is Exhibit A in the case that would hold the
United States and its founders guilty of Indigenous genocide.